S2013.1 Team 2
'About Us' “Handcrafted decor that cares” On the Rocks is a small team of passionate creators changing the way you think about home decor. We take great pride in the fact that we do everything ourselves from start to finish here in Harrisonburg, VA. The result is complete accountability, direct human relationships, and superior quality. We do whatever it takes to make the most badass products possible !!! Additionally 40% of our total sales are used to help support The Patch Work Pantry a food pantry located in Harrisonburg,VA. http://home.ntelos.net/~cmchurch/patchworkpantry.html On the rocks was started by three ambitious, courageous, and extremely handsome individuals Jon Beauzieux, Andrew Nicely, and Anthony Trasatti. 'Humble Beginnings' We began our entrepreneurial journey with the humble goal of changing the world. Our first idea was a Lego Key rack that combined geeky awesomeness and organizational brilliance. We called it LEGO-Your Keys. Initially things were good we had a two great MVPs and excellent customer discovery and feedback. But, we soon found that producing this exceptional product for customer use to be default and expensive. LEGO-Your Keys One day after some questionable ventures Jon noticed the magnets on his refrigerator. After seeing their poor quality he had an epiphany: we can make these, but better! Bring this idea to the rest of the team and we set a simple plan: make the best magnets possible, and everything else would take care of itself. Our Approach After a weekend spent viewing YouTube how to videos and crafting websites we set out to make our first MVP. We went to three stores to get supplies for the first batch. Wal-Mart: Glue, magnets, and construction paper Michael’s: Paper punches Dollar Tree: Glass Floral Marbles We started small with a set of 10 very crude JMU and paw print magnets. With this small batch we conducted customer discovery and sales simultaneously. Our only approach to sells was by any means necessary, and in about a week we sold all 10 sets and made some key discovers. *We needed to use new paper for our designs to really “POP *The glue we were using wasn’t holding *Customers asked for custom designs and photos *Magnets weren’t just used for refrigerators, but for dry erase calendar boards *'We needed a story behind our product !!!!! ' After the great feedback we went back to the drawing board and got busy. We acquired glossy paper from Staples and experimented with different gules from Wal-Mart until we had the right process and the perfect product. We then expanded our product line into 3 products JMU& Paw prints, Custom orders, and Photos. Our Cause ' On The Rock magnets are not just the greatest invention of all time; they’re also for a great cause. We linked up with The Patch Work Pantry and made the decision donated 40% of our sales to their cause of distributing food and various household items free-of-charge to people who need them. By buying our magnets customers gained not only a great product, but are helped to feed Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, Va., residents in need. 'Our Customers "You’re only limited by imagination" Social media outlets (Instagram and Facebook)https://www.facebook.com/OnTherocksmgt372?ref=hl have been keys to our success and have generated awareness for our poroduts and cause. We found that we are selling more of the story to customers than our physical product. Individuals in Greek Life, especially Sororities and middle age women lookin for unique gifts took to our product. These ealy adopters recommended our magne ts to others and so on. . . . 'Business Model' Click the link to see our updated businss model http://canvanizer.com/canvas/GH6beUKiZojW1hXdCyijzBqmFq47tTLd 'Advice and Other Things' #1: 'GET OUT AND SELL' *We spent too much time improving our product and thinking "who would actually buy this?" instead of going out, selling our product, and actually testing the market. *Don't assume people won't buy your product. It doesn't have to be perfect to begin testing it (hence MVP). #2: THINK OF A STORY BEHIND YOUR PRODUCT *We found people were more interested in our product when they heard how we were trying to donate to the local food pantry. Once they heard we were donating to Patchwork Pantry, people wanted to join in and help feed the hungry. #3: SELL A PRODUCT YOU LOVE *With our LEGO-YOUR KEYS idea, none of us actually liked the product. Dr. Wales gave us great feedback on the potential the product had as well as other people in our customer discovery liking it. However, we just did not enjoy or have faith in the idea which led to little motivation in improving the product.